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In the world of charity fund-raisers, poker, it seems, is the new golf. Annie Van Bebber has been getting so many queries about charity poker tournaments on her Web site, FundRaisers. Delaware, Maine and Oregon passed laws embracing charity poker last year, and officials in Washington State and Minnesota said they expected rules there to be relaxed as well. Gambling events in Michigan more than doubled, to 1,, from to In Louisiana, Michael Legendre, director of the charitable gambling office, said he used to license four or five events a year; now it is seven or eight a month. Indiana issued charity gambling licenses last year, up from the year before. States that already sanction charity poker -- and collect revenue from it in taxes and fees -- have a range of restrictions, generally trying to prevent de facto casinos by limiting the number of events, the size of bets or the maximum winnings. But Arnie Wexler, a recovering gambling addict, said it was not that simple. In Washington State, only those who have been members of a sponsoring organization for a year can play. The gymnastics coaches sponsoring the event here in the Chicago suburbs used to hold a "shop and share," earning 2 percent of what athletes' parents spent at the local supermarket. While commercial casinos often hesitate to trade lucrative slot machine space for low-profit poker, the game is an ideal fund-raiser because charities can collect a steady stream of money through the ante. The new events are proving so lucrative that some states are considering legalizing them. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation are using poker events to raise money, in some cases ignoring state laws that outlaw such gambling. Charitable gambling began to take off in the 's with bingo. Jack Knapp, executive director of the Virginia Assembly of Independent Baptists, said the people pushing to legalize charity poker "want the skimmings; they're not really concerned about charities. In the past, black-tie charity gambling galas did not use real stakes. Highly publicized charity tournaments promising large cash prizes in Houston, to benefit the Komen foundation, and in San Jose, Calif. Home Page World U.{/INSERTKEYS}{/PARAGRAPH} For the charities, poker is a path to new pockets, attracting people otherwise unlikely to support their cause, with a guaranteed take from every deal. The gymnastics coaches brought no posters advertising their good works and made no announcements about how the profits would pay for the state's best performers to travel to the national meet in St. But if many charities, including some that support youth programs or fight substance abuse, see poker as a sure bet, some critics worry that it could be harmful to their missions, let alone illegal in some states. Rather than crack down, lawmakers in California, South Dakota, Virginia and Texas have introduced bills to legalize and regulate charity poker games, responding to pressure from groups like the Fraternal Order of Police that are eager to share the spoils. In a home game, it's going to go into someone's pocket. Then Texas hold 'em, in which each player gets two cards face down and five common cards are dealt face up between rounds of betting, burst onto the scene. Inside the 10,square-foot banquet hall, most of the men playing -- and it was mostly men -- had no idea which charity was taking the rake, unless they kept their receipts on the way out to file for a tax deduction. For the players, the charity angle is a means to an end, as the events -- in bars, American Legion posts, even schools -- fill the gambling gap between low-key home games and far-away casinos. The legislation that the California Assembly recently approved requires that 90 percent of the proceeds go to the charity. It's the only game in town. Rushing to cash in on the Texas hold 'em craze, charities from local churches and community groups like the one here to giants like the Susan G. But they are also provoking a backlash, as critics raise questions about the propriety of the nonprofit world splitting the pot with gamblers. Knapp, who is among the leaders of the opposition to the Virginia bill to legalize charity poker. Petersburg, Fla. Some states allowed casino-style fund-raisers, but they remained rare because games that were popular, like blackjack and roulette, were risky for charities since they involve players betting against the house. Kasputis has a 10,member mailing list, and the room was filled with regulars familiar with one another's bluffing tendencies. A spokeswoman for the Komen foundation said that affiliates were not allowed to use poker to raise money but that the group was frequently named the beneficiary of such events by third-party sponsors. Demand dwindled further with the expansion of riverboat and Indian casinos during the 's. {PARAGRAPH}{INSERTKEYS}Long, who wore aviator sunglasses at the poker table like many professionals on television do.